Dave and I spent an afternoon and evening in Istanbul. In anticipation of this visit I made bazlama. This Turkish flatbread is made from flour, water, salt and yeast and is therefore leavened. They should be circular in shape and can be enjoyed as part of a meze platter.
Head straight on to the Recipe For ♥ Bazlama ♥
I do not function well on little sleep. Having suffered from chronic insomnia for years I trained myself to sleep. Before that I could cope very well with little sleep. But now I have taught my body to need it, and rely on it. Last month I had a week of disastrous sleep. Part of my sleep training was routine. We go to bed around about the same time every night. And the ritual includes reading. I read until Dave turns his light out, or until my eyes start closing, whichever happens first. If I wait for Dave to turn the light out I read until the end of the chapter. I also wake up at the same time every morning, regardless of whether it is weekend or a work day. But my bad week of sleep begun when we had load shedding at 10pm and again at 4am.
Today’s inspirational recipe from Lavender and Lime ♥ Bazlama ♥ #LavenderAndLime Click To Tweet
The noisy generator has still not been silenced. And with no wind the sound comes directly into our bedroom. This gave me less than 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep. When load shedding shifted to 2am I thought an early night we give me more hours to sleep, and I would fall back asleep once the generator turned off. But on that night, some idiot decided to rev his motorbike. On, and on and on. This woke me after an hour of sleep and kept me awake until he rode off – hopefully never to return. This interruption lasted 29 minutes. Long enough for me to be wide awake! And it meant I only slept a couple of hours before load shedding started. I woke up truly exhausted after 5 nights of poor sleep. Do you ever have noise that disturbs your sleep?
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Bazlama
Ingredients
- 550 g bread flour, plus extra for dusting
- 300 mls water
- 100 g thick yoghurt
- 12 g fine salt
- 7 g instant dried yeast
- 5 mls xylitol
- 25 g butter, melted
Method
- Place the flour, water, yoghurt, salt, yeast and xylitol into a stand mixer bowl
- Bring together with a dough hook then knead for 5 minutes (your dough will be slightly sticky)
- Cover and set aside to prove until it doubles in size
- Divide the dough into 6 pieces weighing 155g each
- Roll each piece into a ball on a lightly floured surface, dust with flour and cover with a kitchen towel
- Leave for 10 minutes to rest then place each ball, one at a time onto a floured surface
- Flatten slightly with a rolling pin then roll to a 15cm diameter circle
- Set aside to rest for 10 minutes while you heat a heavy based frying pan over a medium temperature
- Spray the pan with cooking spray and place the rolled out dough into the pan
- Lower the temperature slightly and leave to cook for 5 minutes
- When bubbles appear on the top and the bottom is cooked flip it over
- Brush butter on the top (cooked side) and leave to cook for another 5 minutes
- Flip onto a wire rack and brush the top with butter then cover with foil to keep warm
- Repeat with the remaining balls of dough, rolling the next one out as you start cooking the rested one
- Once all done, serve warm or if left to go cold, pop them into a toaster for a short while
View the previous posts on May 18:
- 2022: The Bavarian Restaurant
- 2020: Chocolate Malt Popsicle
- 2018: Smoked Feta And Aubergine Dip
- 2016: 100 New Herbs, Margaret Roberts
- 2015: Cream Of Leek And Cauliflower Soup
- 2014: Therapy
- 2012: Marjoram And Oregano
This recipe is terrific! Have made a few flatbreads in my time and I know I can manage this without a problem . . . and I like e’thing that goes in here i!!! Win! Win! Can’t wait to get some bread flour and yeast! Don’t talk to me about sleeping – I seem to have been born to have problems in that department – remember being 4-5 awake at 3am when the garbage truck arrived! And, until recently was depending on pills . . . have been training myself o go without over the last six months . . . since I am a night owl oft the number of healthy sleep hours is too low . . . cannot stand lights or noise . . . well, not too much of either here . . . 🙂 !
Like you, I am not a fan of either light or noise! Hope you manage to get off the sleeping tablets. I only take one when we fly, and the rest of the time I use rescue remedy and tissue salts xx
I’ve suffered insomnia for decades. It’s the most loathsome thing! I get so upset when i don’t sleep. That load shedding must be so annoying. and the revhead! Love the look of this flatbread.
I really feel for you! And getting upset makes it feel worse somehow. Big hugs xx
Yummy
thank you!
I am always on the lookout for the perfect flat bread recipe. I have had a series of magnificent disasters lately! Thankfully I am a sleeper. And I hope you find a good stretch of good sleep soon.
Thank you Celia, I have had a few nights of good sleep in a row recently 🙂
I love flatbreads, and Turkish cuisine offers some incredible breads. I hope you had a wonderful (and delicious!) day in Istanbul.
We had a very good day in Istanbul, thank you 🙂
HI Tandy, this is a great recipe. I will definitely try it. Load shedding disturbs my sleep as I wake when the generator turns on and off again. It also disturbs me psychologically as I worry about crime and the economic situation here in SA. All in, it is not doing me a lot of good.
The noise disturbance is the worst and I am sorry you are worrying about the crime etc. That does not help much at all xx